沉浸在黑暗中
RWU拥有唯一的R语言教育项目.I. with a cutting-edge virtual 培训 program preparing students for teaching careers
布里斯托尔,R.I. – As a new full-time Spanish teacher at Barrington Middle School in Rhode Island, 23岁的Kyle Villella已经开始与家长见面，并第一次举行家长会.
But, thanks to a virtual education 培训 program called Mursion that Villella used as part of his studies at Roger Williams University, he said he’s well prepared for these interactions.
“Mursion可以让你做一些在学生教学实习中可能做不到的模拟,”维拉说。, 高龄的, who graduated with Secondary Education and Spanish degrees and is a current M.A. candidate in Special Education at Roger Williams. “It prepared me for when I have to meet with parents now. I gained experience in how to run a parent-teacher conference and speak with parents.”
Mursion是一个虚拟培训项目，旨在帮助教育工作者应对各种情况——从“掌握教学动作到培养社交情感学习”,网站上这样写道. 模拟, 它们是基于虚拟形象的，结合了实时的人类对话和人工智能, 是每个用户唯一的吗. 学生可以在虚拟学前班中练习有效的沟通和行为管理技能, 上小学, 中间, 高中教室, preparing them for successful student teaching placements and careers.
RWU’s Education Department added Mursion to the curriculum in 2020. 到目前为止, 这是罗德岛州唯一一个使用人工智能工具培训教师候选人的教育项目, 金伯利·约翰逊-史密斯说, the department’s Director of Strategic Partnerships, 临床领域经验, 和遵从性.
“We are proud to be leaders in the state,”她说。.
这个项目, 哪个是基于标准的, 公平的, 和包容的, 目标是改善高需求领域的学习成果，并增加与国家标准一致的关键领域(如社会情感学习)的专业机会, 多语言学习者, 数据驱动的指令, 还有家庭参与, Johnsen-Smith说. 这些模拟提高了学生“应对每天在课堂上面临的各种挑战”的能力,”她说。.
Mursion的工作原理
作为学生在RWU的临床经验的一部分，需要接受Mursion的培训. Students complete the exercises in the Education Department’s model classroom. 这个房间的设计类似于小学和中学的教室，包括一个虚拟教学区, where students sit at a desk and connect their laptop to a large monitor.
“我们之所以使用模型教室，是因为我们希望这种体验与他们实际教学时的体验一样真实,” said Assistant Professor of Special Education Lindsey Pike, 谁的包容性实践导论课程上个月让学生使用Mursion作为解决学生行为问题的作业的一部分.
会议前, 学生收到解释特定模拟的信息，并可以提出问题. Scenarios are tailored to each individual user, and the difficulty level can vary. Most include a broad topic such as “introducing content,” which lets users choose the subject and lesson plan.
一旦他们登录, 该课程类似于Zoom电话:学生在一个屏幕上，虚拟教室在另一个屏幕上. They deliver their lesson to avatar students who are voiced by live actors, 回答学生的问题, 中断, 或者进行谈话.
15分钟后, 该项目提供现场引导反思——让学生思考哪些进展顺利，哪些不顺利——并提供表现结果数据的即时反馈.
A Low-Stakes Way to Practice Classroom Management
研究表明，新教师觉得他们最需要支持的一个领域是课堂管理, or the ways to address student behavior and social-emotional learning, 据派克说. “使用Mursion为学生提供了一个低风险的机会，让他们练习我们在课堂上谈到的与处理学生行为有关的方法，以及如何在学生捣乱时重新定向,”她说。.
高年级学生玛丽莎·塞斯顿(Marisa Cestone)来自康涅狄格州辛姆斯伯里，主修基础教育，辅修戏剧.她说，在没有真正的学生的情况下，Mursion为她提供了一个安全的环境来提高她的技能. “如果我搞砸了，没关系，”她说. “它让我练习，让我在有一天会成为现实的情况下建立自信.”
Managing a classroom or addressing disruptive students can be scary at first, Cestone说, 但在默森演练这些场景，让她为与真正的学生交谈做好了准备. “现在, 进行这些对话很容易，因为我在Mursion的演讲已经很完美了, 这已经变成了第二天性,”她说。. “It doesn’t feel intimidating getting up in front of students anymore. 我知道我该说什么.”
Extra Preparation Beyond Student Teaching Placements
使用Mursion有助于围绕特定主题创建真正的对话，而不是阅读书中的案例研究并从理论上讨论事物, 派克说. 她说:“这让学生们对课堂上的情景有了更真实的了解。. “Every school they go to, every student they deal with, it’s going to be different. The more opportunities they get to experience different scenarios, the more prepared they will be when they have their own classrooms.”
As opposed to a student-teaching placement, there are no teachers in Mursion who will step in and assist, which lets each student practice being the only teacher in the room, 说Cestone, RWU荣誉计划的成员. “It really puts you in the driver’s seat,”她说。. “我认为这很重要，因为在我们的合作教学经历和实习中，很多时候都是这样, there is always someone else who can step in.”
Villella said he appreciates that the program can be intentionally challenging. For his parent-teacher conference simulations, sometimes the parents pushed back on something he said. “这是一个真实的场景. 根据我到目前为止当老师的经验，并不是每个家长都会接受你说的一切。. “Practicing is what helps you become a better teacher.”
这个项目 also provides experience in teaching diverse students. Cestone, who is student-teaching in a fifth-grade classroom in Bristol, R.I., said she doesn’t currently have any students who are English language learners, but she did complete an ELL session with Mursion.
“Mursion给了我很多机会，这些机会在我的实习中不一定能得到，但在我以后的教学生涯中可能会遇到,”她说。. “I get the best of both worlds because I have my ongoing placement, but I also have the opportunity to try out different simulations.”